WHAT’s NEW AT EAT THE CHANGE™?
On this day one year ago, Coca-Cola announced Honest Tea will be discontinued...
Exactly one year ago I was informed by senior leaders of Coca-Cola that Honest Tea would be discontinued. Despite the brand’s success in the natural channel, supply chain disruptions during the pandemic helped make it a victim of Coke’s “Fewer, Bigger Bets” strategy. I shared the news on LinkedIn and the response was powerful. My team at Eat the Change, most of whom were Honest alums, decided the brand’s organic and Fair Trade values were too important -- to our farmers (most of whom found out about HT’s termination from my post) and our customers -- to abandon. We couldn’t buy...
Eat the Change
On this date 25 years ago, I started Honest Tea...
On this date 25 years ago, I started Honest Tea out of my home in Bethesda, Maryland. With the support of my wife, Julie Farkas, and my HT co-founder, Barry Nalebuff, we aspired to create a national (even international) mission-driven brand to help move people toward healthier diets that are more planet-friendly and mindful about their sourcing practices. For a period of time, we accomplished that goal. Retail sales of Honest branded drinks exceeded $400 million around 2017, and the products were carried in over 150,000 outlets. It's an ironic moment to mark the occasion because today the last vestiges...
Eat the Change
Just Ice Tea | #6
It’s been a busy summer. On May 23 we learned that Coca-Cola was discontinuing Honest Tea. After two weeks of mourning, we announced on June 6 we were going back into the bottled tea business. On September 6 we sold our first bottle of Just Ice Tea at a PLNT Burger in New York City. And tomorrow we will be officially introducing the line & sharing some of the more than 1,000 retail launch partners. So how did we manage to mobilize from the Go Decision to Launch in three months? First, we have to be honest. This wasn’t a...
Eat the Change
JUST ICE TEA #5
The 5th variety of tea we will be launching is a peach blend featuring teas from China & India. I’ve written about our tea from China so today I will focus on the Korakundah Tea Garden nestled in the hills near the Nilgiri Mountains in S. India. It is one of the most magical places on Earth. I have visited the garden several times over the years & my son volunteered as a teacher at the village school. The landscapes are breathtaking, but it's also an impressive integration of nature & agriculture. Wild leopards, water buffalo, tigers & snakes roam through the tea bushes,...